FHM Declares Amanda Beard the World's Sexiest Athlete; ``My Goal is to Definitely Compete...

NEW YORK -- "I've still got skills. I've got mad skills! I'm still motivated to swim," says the world's sexiest athlete Amanda Beard in the August issue of FHM, adding, "the one place I feel completely at home is in the water. I might as well be a mermaid. I've

Not only is she the world's sexiest athlete according to FHM, she's the "Tiger Woods of swimming." She gets a cool $15,000 per speaking engagement, has signed a $1 million contract to advertise Speedo's Axcelerate line, has endorsement deals with Oroweat Bread, Red Bull and Penta water, and a signature line of fragrance products - resulting in potential earnings of $100 million by 2010.

"I've been asked to do a couple of reality shows. I'm not really ready for that kind of stuff yet, because it cuts into my training, and I don't want to be known as a 'has-been.' The Surreal Life wanted me. I think it's a hilarious show and I love watching it, but wait until I have some crazy meltdown at a race first."

As for her relationship with NASCAR's Carl Edwards, Beard says, "I had liked NASCAR for a long time, but obviously while I was dating Carl I had more of an emotional attachment to it, more of a 'please don't crash and die' kind of attachment. Like, when I'm swimming, and I'm competing, I don't even care. I'm completely calm, but when I was with Carl, I was a nervous wreck every race. I don't run the risk of dying while I'm swimming. So after the race, I was always like, 'OK, it was a good race because you're alive.'" As for the break-up, Beard says, "I'm a really laid-back, chilled-out person. I'm a surfer girl from Southern California, and when you date a race car driver, there's so much stress. Race-car drivers are too intense for me."

Regarding her reign as the world's sexiest athlete, Beard tells FHM, "I can't stop laughing every time I hear someone call me the World's Sexiest Athlete. I don't look in the mirror and go, 'Wow, I'm sexy.'"

Beard is featured on the cover of FHM and inside the pages of the magazine in an 8-page photo portfolio by Douglas Bizzaro and Elizabeth Moss.